FINDING YOUR VOICE: Powering through political discourse

By Deborah Cornwall

Wednesday

May 30, 2018 at 10:00 AM

For some of us, discussions about national issues used to be interesting. Stimulating. Thought-provoking. Each party learned something because the conversation was usually civil and respectful, leading to mutual understanding, even if we didn’t reach agreement.

Unfortunately many such conversations are now a distant memory. Too often they become uncomfortable. Emotional. Even accusatory, as though we’re in a fight to prove which of us is more right, rather than seeking to understand each other. Many conversations about national, state, or community issues are feeling “zero-sum” (I-win / you-lose), like an election or a football game.

With mid-term elections approaching, we risk local conversations reflecting the hostility we see among national lawmakers. Must our issue discussions feel like battles to defeat a neighbor, relative, or friend just because we see issues differently? Remember when we could respect those who see things differently without resorting to personal insults or demeaning them?

According to Jon Meecham, presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, those of us who seek a more respectful tone in our political discourse need to take charge. He says we can do so by bringing our values back into the conversation. (For example, if we valued the “golden rule,” we’d treat people as we’d like to be treated.

Meecham contends that we can replace the politics of fear, resentment, and personal destruction with a more satisfying alternative by doing three things:

First, get engaged in the issues. Learn what’s going on―local, statewide, or national―and consider a range of possible solutions. Meecham urges each of us toward civic engagement, rather than avoiding the fray, and toward flexibility to consider alternatives.

Second, resist passionate tribal loyalties that could prompt quick assumptions about who’s right or wrong. There’s probably some “right” in each of our views, so we when sensitive topics arise, we can do more than criticize each other. Instead, we can make the deliberate choice to ask questions (“Why do you have that concern?”) and learn from each other.

Third, use facts and reason rather than passion. Our second President, John Adams, said that “Facts are stubborn things, and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” This means that using facts and reason can steady our conversations and allow us to respect others’ views to build bridges, rather than highlighting divides.

At the national level, even facts about science and what we’ve seen or heard in photos, audiotapes, or videotape are being scorned as “fake news” to shut down disagreements. Such statements make it impossible to find common ground.

If we form our positions on issues based not on facts, but on who else agrees and shares our fears and concerns, we’re making assumptions about what’s real or true. We’re not questioning, listening, or considering either facts or alternative courses of action.

Political discourse can be nonpartisan and constructive if we can agree on shared outcomes about what we want to achieve (like well-educated kids, clean drinking water, fair justice, access to quality healthcare, safe public places, and so on). Mutual respect and the quest to understand differing viewpoints can turn issue conversations into learning opportunities, rather than a series of hot unresolved arguments.

As we approach mid-term election season, perhaps we can find ways to inject more courtesy, respect, and hope into our discourse and restore civility to the public arena.

Deborah J. Cornwall is the leaders of Sneakers Laced Up South Shore, a non-partisan grassroots activist group dedicated to promoting civic engagement by sharing facts about the values underlying public debate and promoting constructive dialogue about how those values and issues influence our daily lives.